Oh man, but Rogers can write his ass off.
That's gorgeous. I wish I could do that.
So he has some things to make up for.
Dude, is that really you? If this is some greenwald-inspired prank I'll be so pissed.
It doesn't matter if it's really me as long as what I say is good and true.
Maybe if we re-watch Catwoman as some kind of genius political screed, in code? Maybe?
I knew this sock thing would get out of hand.
I didn't even think the post was particularly well-written. Enjoyable post with a heartwearming story about immigrants. Nothing to remark upon in the writing.
Or maybe I have high standards for writing, Joe.
(My own writing on this blog is exceptionally bad.)
Huh. I would have thought you'd have gotten it. Weird.
I would have thought you would have gotten it...in my pants. Odd, that.
Don't be bitter about that. I said I still wanted to be friends.
I agree with 9: I didn't think the writing was all that.
Joe, you're getting it in neither my nor Weiner's pants.
I meant, I endorse Joe's getting it in Tia's pants. Indexicals!
What happens between me and Weiner is private.
I agree with 9
However, it's a bunch of girls saying this, so caveat lector.
Also, my comment in 1 was referring to his ass as a tax-deductible business expense.
Kung Fu Monkey's post was clear, and the anecdote was memorable. It sticks in your head because of the personal details. Mo. it's not the greatest writing ever, but it is effective.
Monkey's basic point is sound. Dershowitz does tend to get a pass on a lot of things, because he's an HLS Professor. (Law School Professors tend to get a pass on things that literary and philosophical types don't. Maybe people think that they are all terribly practical, real-world types.) Dershowitz doesn't deserve extra special respect just because he's a professor when he's making absolutely asinine arguments, and Dershowitz, in particular, has been coasting on his status as a professor for far too long. (It's not just about his views on Israel; he never got in trouble for plagiarizing.)
I didn't think there was anything to "get". Besides pants, what am I missing?
You've had 14 comments to feel superior, now spill.
I have no idea if it was the same Prince, and things didn't get nearly so dramatic as in Kung Fu Monkey's case, but I once worked a banquet with a Saudi Prince present (Darrell Royal was there too, and since this was in Texas, he clearly outranked the Prince). Darrell Royal was a nice old man. The Prince was a complete and utter asshole in that extra special way that only the obscenely over-priveleged have.
But actually the worst were the guys who hung out with the Prince, all of them U.S. citizens of the spoiled aging fratboy variety. I don't know if they were on his payroll or just wanted him as a client or something, but they were running around trying to make sure everything was absolutely perfect for his precious Highness from moment to moment -- were we absolutely sure the beer was cold enough? the Prince needs a fresh napkin now! the Prince's salad wasn't prepared correctly!! etc. -- and I've never seen such bootlicking in all my born days.
Okay, since this is a vaguely food-service-related thread, does anybody has a restaurant recommendation for me? I'm looking for a moderately priced place for dinner on Tuesday; my mother is coming to town, and she's going to take me and my honey out. Preferences: northwards of 60th, either side, entrées at 15 or below, quiet (mom's partially deaf), and palatable to someone who considers Californian-style Cuisine normal and natural. Suggestions?
Oh, and "prince of absolutely fucking nobody" warms the cockles of this black heart.
Actually, I've just been baiting Tia.
20: The point of writing = to get in girls' pants, right? Q.E.D.
29: Proving that Joe has failed at all his writing that intends me as an audience.
27 -- not my nabe but this is the kind of question that Chowhound answers really well. Go to www.chowhound.com, make a user name, register, and post your query on the Manhattan board -- you should get 5 or six responses within the day.
27: I should stay out of this because I don't know what's going on uptown, but Candle Cafe?
But actually the worst were the guys who hung out with the Prince, all of them U.S. citizens of the spoiled aging fratboy variety.
Weiner, I think that that was an unspoken assumption. Now, you had to be all crass by making it explicit. We can't pat ourselves on the head for making the connection any more.
Look, I'm already crushed enough by 31. Where are the spider babies of yesteryear?
32, 33--Thanks! I'll look into both suggestions.
I've got your back, Weiner! Us Texas residents have to stick together against those pointy-headed New England types!
39 -- if you go the Chowhound route, let me know what handle you take (if it is other than Jackmormon).
(JFTR I post there under my real name, which you know, and with extreme infrequency although I was one of the top posters in about 1998 or so.)
None of the above should be construed as meaning that I'll let Weiner get anywhere near, much less into, my pants.
But don't worry about 31, Matt, everyone knows the thing you share with Tia is secret.
I registered as Jackmormon; I haven't posted yet. Just skimming through the board gave me a bunch of good ideas--it's pretty downtown-centric, though.
Dershowitz is rather like Larry Summers in that he has this reputation for being incredibly intelligent, which appears to be impervious to anything he actually says.
In law school I got the general impression from a number of professors that he wasn't very respected as a scholar and was mainly coasting on his success way back when as a defense attorney.
Wrt intelligence: I realized recently that when I talk to other people about intelligence, we're not necessarily talking about the same thing. When I say someone's intelligent, I mean something like, "has the right opinions for the right reasons," "isn't taken in by bullshit," or "knows the score." (Yes, all very vague.) Other people seem to mean, "has a mind like a computer."
47 is a very intelligent comment.
Dershowitz is rather like Larry Summers in that he has this reputation for being incredibly intelligent, which appears to be impervious to anything he actually says.
He has never had have anything like Summers's reputation for intelligence; at least with Summers, we can point to other well-regarded people in his field who have called him intelligent. The guy's a total douchebag, and he should be removed from the country as a cancer.
re: 47
I am almost always underwhelmed by people widely acclaimed as 'smart'. Every time some 'thinker' or other gets fluffed in the media as a 'brain the size of a planet'-type intellect, I read what they've written, and think, 'Dude, I know twenty people who'd pwn this idiot without even raising a sweat.'
Summers at least got tenure at some ridiculously young age (26?)
That linked post readsa lot like a "Fuck you, clown" joke. Seriously.
I printed this out for my offspring, as he is now working in a fancy five star hotel in Beverly Hills, where a spur of the Saudi royal family has taken up residence on a whole floor and doesn't see why they can't have a party for 50 with no notice at 4AM, throwing the kitchen staff into a frenzy of double shifts.
The kid's only consolation is that the hotel pays very well, has excellent benefits and he can stay in any hotel in the consortium for 50% off rack rate. And he got to make lunch for Shakira.
Ooh, I'd like to make her lunch.
I'm not even sure what that even means.
51: so did Dershowitz (28, youngest full professor in HLS history). Not that it means anyone should pay any particular attention to him forty years later.
46: deep down no law professors really respect any other law professors as scholars, or themselves, nor should they.
Actually, to get all serious for a moment, I had some great professors, whom I respect deeply, and who you should too. Douglas Laycock, for example. Also Thomas McGarity and Jay Westbrook. Probably a few more, if I thought about it.
56: I was serious. Certainly a few good ones wander in by mistake -- I had Morton Horwitz, who's great, and I'm sure I could think of others -- but let's face it, "clever, but pointless" is pretty much the essence of the enterprise. Dershowitz isn't an aberration; he's the archetype.
Hey, Domineditrix! Aren't you someone who used to post, was away for a long time, and has just reappeared? Do we have a gift for such an occasion, gang?
so did Dershowitz (28, youngest full professor in HLS history).
I assume this is back when his lips were still full and pouty.
I used to read Unfogged.
So 58 is just you asking if you get a toaster too?
Is that a trick? What did DE get? If it's better than a toaster, I'm going to be pissed.
63: Well, the box did say "It's BETTER than a toaster, it's TOAST-O-MATIC!"
But really I think it's just a toaster.
Goddamned Toast-o-Matics taking the jobs away from all the union toasters.
No, see, if the toasters had a union, the Toast-O-Matics would have been, um, toast.
If I had a Toast-O-Matic, I could have made Shakira lunch.
50 just undid all the work my fucking blog has accomplished in the last two years helping me overcome my severe writer's block and my conviction that anything I have to say is stupid and obvious and I'll say it badly.
Thanks a whole lot.
68 -- But, B, you're one of the twenty people.
69: In fact, of those 20 people, B's in the top 15!
But seriously, B, have you been "fluffed in the media as a 'brain the size of a planet'-type intellect"? If not, you've got nothing to worry about.
Also, I disagree with 57 pretty strongly. At the very least, I don't think it's any more true of law profs than it is of profs in general. And I don't think it's really true of profs in general, although as with every profession, there are plenty of idiots to point at (NB: I am NOT pointing at BitchPhD. Why, she's got an intellect the size of the planet!).
I've been fluffed in the blog world, and it always kind of embarrasses me and I feel compelled to say, "no, not really" but secretly I love it omg I am so ashamed. And if I ever did get a NYRB review or whatever, I would think back on this thread and want to kill myself. And it would be all your fault.
And it would be all your fault.
I'm trying to break down your ego so that you can achieve enlightenment.
It's a zen thing, maybe someday you'll understand.
72: You mean 71? I agree. Oh man, but Bitch can write her ass off.
You're just happy because I used the word "fluffed." I'm perfectly aware that the route to feminine fame and fortune is to write fluff, porn, or fluffy porn. Alas.
I once saw Alan Dershowitz in my comic book store in Harvard Square, asking about some action figures or other toy. I leave open the possibility that it was for a kid, not for himself.
I'm perfectly aware that the route to feminine fame and fortune is to write fluff, porn, or fluffy porn.
What about just being a fluffer?
No, that's not fame or fortune, that's obscurity. The famous have fluffers, rather than being them.
The famous have fluffers, rather than being them.
Ah, so that's why you're ambitious.
I once saw Alan Dershowitz in my comic book store in Harvard Square, asking about some action figures or other toy. I leave open the possibility that it was for a kid, not for himself.
So what do you think he was going to make the kid do for that toy?
80: For your information, SCMT, Dershowitz informs me that he had a warrant to do that to that kid.
Yeah, it's because I want a fluffer of my own.
Actually, I want a nap.
The famous have fluffers, rather than being them.
But maybe if you were the very best fluffer ever...
re: 68 and 71
No, No. No-one on here was my intended target.
But, if you ever do get a NYRB review, you can be damn sure I'll be thinking:
"Damn, that BPhD, she used to be all that. But with that analysis of the misogynist subtext in 'My Little Pony' ... I think she's reading too much into this"
No, I didn't think I was the target. I was just taking everything as pertaining to my fine self, b/c I am vain/neurotic/insecure like that. Sometimes.
My Little Pony is totally misogynist, are you kidding? In effect, if not in itself.
Apo will be thinking, "shit, and I never got those naked pictures."
My Little Pony is totally misogynist, are you kidding?
You'll be telling me that there's a misogynist subtext in Hitchcock movies next.
I know, I'm crazy like that. Everything looks like a nail.
#74, I meant Roger's post.
The bit about the Saudi prince is still a great story. But upon reflection, the way he tied it to Dershowitz didn't make sense. Dersh never said, "Everyone should listen to me because I'm a Harvard law professor and you're not." He simply made an argument, which anyone else is indeed free to refute. Unlike the Saudi prince, Dersh was not claiming any kind of privilege to do certain things.
Rogers is such a good writer that he can slip this fundamental difference past the casual reader (well, me, at least) without objection.
The misogyny of My Little Pony revealed!
Man. I got those all wrong. Who calls a pony "Ruby Lips"?
Heh, they all sounded like pony names, except for Green Eyes, which wasn't evocative of food.
#74, I meant Roger's post.
Yeah, I know. Hence the parallel phrasing to apostropher's comment 1.
But upon reflection, the way he tied it to Dershowitz didn't make sense.
But Dershowitz, like the the Prince, is an asshole of a customer.
Man. I got those all wrong. Who calls a pony "Ruby Lips"?
Emerson???
#92: But Dershowitz, like the the Prince, is an asshole of a customer.
We have to take this on faith from Rogers. I would have appreciated some evidence of Dersh's assholeness as a customer.
Maybe if we re-watch Catwoman as some kind of genius political screed, in code? Maybe?
I am totally opposed to some sort of Straussian attempt at reading exoteric and esoteric meanings into Catwoman. It can only end in tears.